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This wikiHow teaches you how to temporarily turn off McAfee Security Center on your Windows or Mac computer. Disabling McAfee will not remove it from your computer. Keep in mind that, if McAfee is your only antivirus software, turning it off will leave your computer vulnerable to malware.

Steps

Method1

On Windows

1

Open Start

. Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen, or press ⊞ Win.

2

Type mcafee into Start. Doing so searches your computer for the McAfee program.

3

Click McAfee® TotalProtection. This should be at the top of the Start window, with the subheading "Desktop app" below its name. Doing so opens McAfee.

4

Click the PC Security tab. It's in the upper-left corner of the McAfee window.

5

Click Real-Time Scanning. This tab is on the left side of the McAfee window.

6

Click Turn Off. It's in the upper-right side of the Real-Time Scanning page.

7

Select a time limit, then click Turn Off. You can set a time for real-time scanning to reactivate in the "When do you want to resume Real-Time Scanning?" box. The default is 15 minutes.

If you want to disable McAfee until you manually turn it back on, select Never for the time limit.

You can exit this window after turning off Real-Time Scanning.

8

Click the Firewall tab. This option is below the Real-Time Scanning tab on the left side of the window.

9

Click Turn Off. It's in the upper-right side of the page.

If your Firewall page is blank, your McAfee Firewall is already off; you can skip the next two steps.

10

Select a time limit, then click Turn Off. Doing so will disable the McAfee Firewall until the time limit expires.

11

Exit the Firewall window. Click X in the top-right corner of the Firewall window.

12

Click Automatic updates. This option is below Firewall on the left side of the page.

13

Click Turn Off. It's in the top-right corner of the Automatic Updates page.

The "system tray," also known as the notification area, is an area at the bottom-right corner of your screen. It has the clock and has icons to open programs, notifications, or settings (Action Center, volume, network, keyboard, etc.).

Article Info

This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article meets our high standards.